1.02.2014

The Great Banana Shortage

Sometimes the allusions in Common Errors in English are very indirect. In the entry for “any where/anywhere” on page 19, the line “We do not sell bananas any more” is an allusion to 1923 hit song performed by Eddie Cantor, “Yes, We Have No Bananas.”

Like a lot of popular humor at the time it was aimed at making fun of an English-mangling immigrant, in this case a Greek grocer who always prefaced his negative statements with “yes.” The song also plays with having a pretentious native speaker give his own version of the message to customers that bananas are unavailable.

I couldn’t resist alluding to a song that nitpicks English usage by rewording it so that it becomes instead an example of standard usage.

The song was a huge hit, thanks largely to its catchy tune. There is a nice jazz version by Sam Lanin on YouTube with relevant illustrations, with only part of the lyrics sung toward the end of the recording.

So popular was it that Cantor recorded another song complaining about the song’s ubiquity: “The I've Got the ‘Yes, We Have No Bananas’ Blues.”